So many channels, so little worth watching! Do you sometimes find yourself muttering those words? Next week is TV Turnoff Week ( http://tvturnoff.org ) so give that TV a well-deserved rest, and instead say: So many books worth reading, so little time!
People in the US watch TV for more than four hours a day. That's equivalent to sitting in front of a TV for two full months nonstop every year. It's not for nothing that TV has been called the plug-in drug, the boob tube, and the idiot box. For more, see factsheets: http://tvturnoff.org/factsheets.htm and research: http://tvturnoff.org/research.htm It's time to redefine television, from Greek tele- (far) + Latin vision- (view), as something that deserved to be seen far, far away. Instead, get closer to books. Cut your screen time and increase your page time. This week we'll explore a few words from the world of books. belles-lettres (bel-LET-ruh) noun Literary works valued for their aesthetic qualities rather than information or instruction. [From French belles (fine) + lettres (letters, literature).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=belles-lettres -Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org) "Unlike official or traditional poetry, the poetry of survival is not made up of consolations but of solutions. Unlike our belles-lettres, this book is fact-dependent, not word-dependent." Miroslav Holub; The Invaders; Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues; Los Angeles Times, Feb 2, 1997. Sponsored by: Subscribe to http://delanceyplace.com -- a carefully selected non-fiction book excerpt free to your email each day. It's the thinking person's daily quote. Perfect your fluency in French, German, Spanish or Italian with Champs-Elysees audio magazines. http://ads.champs-elysees.com/wsmith4 ............................................................................ The question why there is evil in existence is the same as why there is imperfection... But this is the real question we ought to ask: Is this imperfection the final truth, is evil absolute and ultimate? -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941) Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/belles-lettres.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/belles-lettres.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/belles-lettres.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
